Recording artists Tim Story
and Dwight Ashley are known for creating introspective albums that probe
the more shadowy side of the human psyche. But with their latest collaboration,
Standing and Falling, the Ashley/Story perspective
turns outward, exploring a curious, color-soaked soundscape replete
with surprising twists and turns.
Produced over the span of eight years, Standing and Falling
evokes a corresponding sense of time and space, like a slow, sonic ride
on an otherworldly Orient Express, with scenery that grows more exotic
from track to track. Real-world audio textures suggest a sense of place
- but Ashley/Story's idiosyncratic electronic orchestration renders
that place unlike any we've seen or visited.
Listeners familiar with Story's taut, haunting melodies or Ashley's
dark, guitar-soaked drones may be surprised at a distinctly different
element on this album: humor. Track titles like "Ohmen," "Chicken
Pot Pie," and "The Curve of Spee" give clue to the listener
that even the darker tracks on Standing and Falling
are punctuated with witty compositional elements that give the album
a wryly cheerful character.
Standing and Falling is an inventive collection of
electronic tone poems, arguably the most programmatic Ashley/Story effort
to date. Artifacts in a sonic curiosity shop… audio postcards
from an alternate universe… pictures at an exhibition of subatomic
worlds… whatever one sees in the mind's eye, Standing
and Falling will take the listener on a richly textured voyage
between the ears.
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